Letters from the Editor

Review past letters from the Editor below.

Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

I have been reading the Dr. Seuss book Oh, The Places You’ll Go! to my children over the last few weeks. I actually received the book as a high school graduation present and reading it always fuels my wanderlust; I experience that innate craving to explore.

Last month, I encouraged everyone to get back out into the field, to remember what started you on your geologic inspirational path. The irony? I have now been tasked to transition the Bulletin to the digital era; alas, more time behinda computer. I feel extremely reticent on the Digital Bulletin topic (at least for this month), so I am choosing purposely to avoid that conversation and focus completely on the cool geology we have here in Texas. I am just too excited and ready to go on some outdoor exploits!.

As another fall season approaches, I can’t help but think of being outdoors: going on hikes, watching the leaves turn colors, and eagerly anticipating cooler temperatures. This has always been the time of year that fondly reminds me of my geology field trips and just simply getting outside to explore the world, getting lost in the wilderness, and feeling like I was one with nature – the key reasons I fell in love with geoscience in the first place.

Well, I’ve really enjoyed serving as your Bulletin editor this past year, and am confident that I’m leaving my editing duties in very capable hands—those of your 2016-17 Editor Tami Shannon. I want to thank Tami for all her good help as Editor-elect, Design Editor Lisa Krueger who continues to do a great job in assembling a Bulletin of which we’re all proud, and Advisory Editors Charles Revilla and Ed Marks, who are taking a well-deserved break from their many years in service to many Bulletin editors.

I think it’s ironic, in a sad sort of way, that one of the main aspects of the vocation of geoscience that attracted most of us to it in the first place was the opportunity to spend time outdoors in the field: traipsing around the countryside, contemplating and analyzing outcrops from afar and up close, measuring and describing sections, mapping, collecting samples, deploying geophysical instruments, etc.—and at the same time reveling in beautiful landscapes, daytime “sky-scapes,” the wondrous nighttime canopy of a gazillion stars, and experiencing the ineffable, profound peace (or at times violent but beautiful chaos) of the precious part of God’s creation far from the city. Of course, being in the field at times also entails discomfort, frustrations, bug bites and perhaps other negative things. After all, it’s a part of life. But as geoscientists we greatly treasure our field experiences.

Those of us who explore for oil & gas tend to be intrigued by exploration in its broader sense. So as many of us HGS members have dedicated a good part of our careers to exploration of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) region, I thought it might be fitting to remember some of the first GoM explorers.

The geosynclinal theory, predecessor to plate tectonics, was first developed by American geologists James Hall (1859) and James Dwight Dana (1866) during the course of their research on the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern US.

One of the main concepts to which all Geology 101 students are introduced is uniformitarianism, which is simply stated as “the present is the key to the past.” As we geologists all know, the fundamental concept was introduced by James Hutton in the late 18th century, and institutionalized by geologist and lawyer Charles Lyell via his landmark The Principles of Geology first published during the 1830’s.

In the Your Board in Action column this month, Editor-elect Tami Shannon has eloquently outlined some of the key benefits of stepping-up our participation in HGS activities, especially in these uncertain times when maintaining and building our professional networks, and technical knowledge, is so important. Allow me to augment Tami’s good message by also encouraging your involvement in volunteering opportunities beyond HGS. I’ll highlight one example (among many) of how we Houstonian geoscientists can have a positive impact on our colleagues around the world—befitting Houston’s privileged status as the capital of the global petroleum industry.

With so much emphasis placed on the development of new technology for finding oil & gas, and rightly so, we sometimes forget that there are some old tools and techniques that still retain their usefulness. The most ancient of all methods for petroleum exploration was first applied by early man, who discovered that a sticky black substance (biodegraded oil, or pitch) found in certain places at the Earth’s surface, was an effective sealant/caulking material.

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The Houston Geological Society is a professional society for petroleum, energy and environmental geoscientists. The HGS supports continuing education, networking, outreach to students, student scholarships and young professional activities. The HGS will celebrate its 100th year in 2023!